- Last month when there was the first hope of spring here in Chicago everyone was rocking their spring pieces, but it was still cool enough to need a little bit of extra coverage. I saw a woman wearing a brightly colored skirt with black tights underneath, which would not normally be problematic. However, the tights were control top which was obvious to me and everyone else on the street because the reinforced part on the thigh went lower than her hemline. For those of you not familiar with control top tights, even in an opaque pair of tights, there is a distinct difference between the control part and rest of the leg part with the control part being darker. In this case there was about 2 inches of the control part visible. Although the idea of the outfit was sound, the individual pieces did not work together. Remember that your underwear needs to be chosen to complement your outerwear.
- During Easter brunch at a nice restaurant I saw another example of underwear being highly visible. This case was much more egregious than showing some control top and it actually took me a few minutes of gaping to believe my own eyes. A woman sitting at the next table over was wearing her shape wear OVER her top. Her bottom most layer was a teal camisole (which was being worn as a top) and layered over that was a nude colored Spanx-like tank. The camisole had a few more inches of length so it stuck out at the bottom and the edge was visible at the top. She was wearing a patterned scarf and had her moto-style blazer hanging on her chair back. I believe that she intended to keep the jacket on so that the scarf would be visible at the top and the camisole would be visible on the bottom and the Spanx top would be concealed. However, she took off the jacket and displayed her underclothes (including highly visible bra straps which were thicker than the camisole straps) to the restaurant for most of her meal. No matter how sure you are that you are going to keep on an outer layer, you should be prepared for an overly warm room.